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CBS Sports Ken Berger: Dwight faces no derision after decision

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Carl Herrera, Aug 14, 2013.

  1. Spacemoth

    Spacemoth Member

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    This take is just as bad as many of the other nationally syndicated sports takes on the Dwight Howard move. Colin Cowherd might as well have written it.

    The thrust of the argument remains, "Dwight chickened out on LA, a franchise which has 16 championships and by DEFAULT must represent a better shot at a title next year, just so he could clown around with a bunch of other young kids in Houston with no pressure at all to win a title."

    Really? How many more ignorant sportswriters will we have to shut up this coming season? Actually, I take that back. There's nothing at all we can do to shut them up save win a title. They will shut up on their own, however, when the Lakers come out of the gates and are very obviously a lottery team. Then no one will blame Dwight for jumping that sinking ship.
     
  2. DallasThomas

    DallasThomas Member

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    It's not ignorance, it's bias...
     
  3. Voice of Aus

    Voice of Aus Member

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    It's also writing what u know will make a reaction from your audience and make them share it or comment it..

    So this writer has succeed
     
  4. JoeBarelyCares

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    I don't see what is so wrong with the article, Berger makes some good points. Also, I don't think it casts Dwight in a bad light, but instead portrays him as someone who made a calculated and logical decision this year, and who won't face derision from it. It even puts Dwight's indecision last year in a little better light, by postulating that Orlando was going to trade him to Houston, not Brooklyn, if he didn't opt in (old news, of course). If he would have been traded to Houston, the Rockets roster would have been decimated. There would have been no Howard / Harden combination.

    So who lost out from the indecision? Not Orlando - they surprisingly won the subsequent trade. Not the Lakers - they traded Bynum, who sat out all year, and who they would have let go in free agency this summer, for a one year (diminished) Howard rental. And of course, the Rockets were the big winners. The only real loser was Philadelphia from the ordeal.
     
  5. durvasa

    durvasa Member

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    I don't agree with his premise that a free agent who decides to leave a big market like LA somehow has more of a responsibility to explain himself. Am I supposed to accept that the Lakers deserve more loyalty/obedience because they've won championships? Nonsense.
     
  6. rocketier1

    rocketier1 Member

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    Wow no need to mock asians Ken
     
  7. Carl Herrera

    Carl Herrera Member

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    A big part of why Dwight didnt face any derision this time is that he left a "glamour" team in LA for a relatively non-glamour market while Lebron was viewed as turning his back on a small market for South Beach. Even non-Cleveland fans feel sympathy for the Cavs fans because their teams are similarly at risk of losing stars to the NY, LA, Miami, etc. of the league. Fans around the league shared Cavs fans outrage and helplessness.

    Most non-Lakers fans are not offended that Dwight turned his back on the Lakers and their history, they are too busy laughing at the Lakers' misfortune-- those arrogant bastards finally got theirs!
     
    2 people like this.
  8. varuscelli

    varuscelli Member

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    Agreed. I think a majority of sports fans probably feel this way.

    Most of the media want to make it seem like "everyone" is questioning Dwight's decision...but "everyone" is just the media and those with an interest in LA stirring the pot to get reactions or publicly pissing and moaning, respectively.

    Most of the rest of the sports fans in the country are either neutral about his decision or glad that he left LA in the lurch.
     
  9. thedude077

    thedude077 Member

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    Wow, lol the media is going to be all over us for a long time. And it won't be positive.
     
  10. megastahr

    megastahr Member

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    they wont be positive till we win...and win we will

    3-4 th in the west this year at a minimum.

    Could do better...with a trade for say (love or aldridge) or if Asik works well with Howard and either of Dmo/Tjones step up big.


    I am just ready to get this started already to shut up all the haters.

    I expect a HUGE season.
     
  11. rlivz

    rlivz Member

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    Berger is a Kobe megafan... he has some validity in his article, but you can't help but notice his thinly veiled shots and Kobe praise.
     
    1 person likes this.
  12. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Member

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    After our string of bad luck...the rejections by Bosh, Gasol, and initially Howard - how spectacularly in hindsight it all worked out.

    No one in their right mind could have foreseen Howard signing with us after being with the Lakers. No thought in the summer of 2012 that in one year we'd have both Harden & Howard.
     
  13. jtr

    jtr Member

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    Berger wrote a very good article framing the Howard saga. He put it into perspective. Howard put himself into a position to succeed, not fail. Howard seems to be maturing. And I applaud him for that. But the best thing? He chose the Rockets.
     
  14. jtr

    jtr Member

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    We have a Harden that few anticipated in the summer of 2012. A new and improved Harden who is suddenly a step away from being judged by all as the best SG in the game. And it is almost inarguable that we have the best center in the game. It is time to see if Morey can step up his game and fill out the roster of complimentary players. For surely that is all the Rockets lack.
     
  15. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Member

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    We once had the best center and arguably the best combo guard in the league in T-mac (who basically played pg and sg) in Tmac and Yao. CD/Morey couldn't get the role players in time before those two got injured.

    I think Morey is mindful that windows can close quickly. And I am not sure I put Howard and Harden as being better that Yao & T-mac - people forget how dominating those two were - both were extremely tall and strong. Yao was a beast inside, and T-mac was pretty unguardable especially in crunch time.

    Fortunately, Parsons/Asik/Lin/Bev make up a much much stronger supporting cast then we've had since the championship years. They will need to grow up-quickly - but I am cautiously optimistic.
     
  16. BONIERO1576

    BONIERO1576 Member

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    My view has changed a little on this over time, but the other reason I didn't like "the decision" was because of the idea that Wade, James and Bosh all went to one team so they didn't have the burden of playing any good teams. They went to a weak division in the weaker conference so they could stack the deck in their favor. They basically guaranteed themselves a finals appearance for the foreseeable furture.

    To me, Dwight didn't choose the easiest path to a ring the way Lebron did.
     
  17. zcarenow

    zcarenow Member

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    really simple...

    he didn't have a 2 hr special on espn...big difference between his decision and "The Decision"!
     
  18. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

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    I'm with him on the first point -- he made his decision promptly without jerking people around, and he did it with some humility compared to the exercise in narcissism that was Lebron's departure from Cleveland. Add to that that Lebron's Cleveland team was functional and winning whereas Howard's Lakers were obviously dysfunctional and not winning.

    But, the second point makes no sense, especially considering the dysfunction. First, I never really understood the argument that Lebron James could redeem himself thru winning. There were heavy expectations on him because the egomania of The Decision and because the Superfriends felt like a cheat -- if you can't win a championship when you say you're the best player in the league AND you game the system to stack your roster, what does that say about you? So, we expected him to win and he did. That just makes it worse for Cleveland who could well have been the champions if Lebron had stayed. If your wife divorces you, does it make you feel better if she marries another guy who is better looking and has more money and he fathers all the children she's wanted that you couldn't sire? For me, winning didn't make anything better; only with the passage of time has my displeasure become fatigued.

    And so, secondly, the expectation on Howard isn't as high because he didn't make out like he was the best ever, and he didn't team up with Paul and Harden for a new Superfriends team. If Paul had come to Houston, the expectation would have been a Houston-Miami finals. Anything less would be failure. Without Paul, we're just a run-of-the-mill contender. We didn't game the system for advantage.

    As for justifications, my feeling is that sticking with the Lakers would be the decision that requires justification. The team obviously didn't work. It obviously didn't have a future as a contender with Kobe/Dwight/Nash. It obviously didn't have a lot options to get better, like promising young players, draft picks, or cap-room. By signing there, it'd be like saying he wasn't interested in championships, only an LA lifestyle. That requires justification.
     
  19. HOUSTONJS

    HOUSTONJS Member

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    This was nothing like The Decision so it shouldn't be under fire like The Decision.
     

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